Why are vendors offering (much) less gold for items than expected?

Question

As the title says, I've noticed that vendors seem to be willing to buy my items for a lot less than the "value" listed outside of the vendor UI. Examples:

• Potion of Lasting Potency is 311 gold in my "items" view, but Lucan Valerius will only pay 126 gold for it
• Similarly for my Axe of Whiterun: 201 gold in "items," only 81 gold at the vendor
• 500 gold for Scroll of Bane of the Undead in "items," 203 gold at the vendor

and so on. What's the deal here?

Answer

The value in your inventory is the worth of the item. Vendors will give you a percentage of that vlue based on your speechcraft skill and other factors. Likewise they will sell it for a multiple of that value.

Specifically the price is:

Sell price = [ value of item ] / [ 3.3 - (1.3 * [speech skill]/100) ] * [(1 + Haggling %) * (1 + Allure %) * (1 + Fortify Barter from potion) * (1 + the sum of Fortify Barter from equipment + Fortify Barter from Blessing of Zenithar)

From the UESP Wiki.

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